This presentation will address incorporating new and exploratory uses for technologies within a Center?s core functions and key projects to increase the number of rural individuals reached through training, services and dissemination.

This session will review the purpose, structure, achievements and challenges of a Public Policy Partnership that was designed in 2010 by the ADD Network Partners in Wisconsin. Elements include: an MOU that outlines the terms of the partnership, pooled funding, joint hire of a Public Policy Coordinator, creation of a policy agenda, and impact.

This session will describe the AOTA, APTA, and ASHA partnership with CDC?s ?Learn the Signs. Act Early.? Campaign. Preliminary research findings from surveying over 4000 practitioners will be presented. Resources, strategies, and recommendations to support families through earlier detection and through intervention will be discussed.

The need for integrated work in the area of Universal Design to support learners with disabilities is paramount for success in institutions of higher education. These three examples begin the dialogue, highlighting research, assistance, and structural change. We hope to engage the audience in ways to further support UD and UDL in higher education.

The goal of the TPSID demonstration projects is to deliver inclusive postsecondary options for students with ID including participation in college classes, internships, housing and social experiences. Gain an overview and highlights from programs in the following five states: New York, Ohio, Hawaii, North Dakota and Minneapolis.

This session includes two interrelated presentations on recent South Carolina Act Early Team. One focuses on training general pediatricians to perform second level screening for children (24- 36 months) suspected of having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The second concerns policy developments/recommendations affecting statewide services for young children with ASD.

CACs are instrumental in setting and evaluating UCEDD priorities. They can also take leadership roles in the actual work of UCEDDs, especially in the design of innovative, evidenced-based training approaches. This session will describe recent UK-HDI CAC initiatives that created products for statewide, and perhaps even national, use, and demonstrate the diverse ways in which self-advocates can partner in every aspect of planning, implementation and evaluation of UCEDD programs.

This combined concurrent session will: 1.) Present findings on the social supports of individuals with disabilities three years after Hurricane Katrina, with a focus on how the configuration of these social supports changed from before to after the storm and 2). Share new collaborative approaches and tools that can be used to address inclusive emergency preparedness and to assist people with developmental disabilities and their families in the preparation of customized emergency readiness plans.

This symposium will present Year Two accomplishments from the two ADD-funded Minority Partnership Grants. Reflecting two models, each targeting different student groups who are under-represented in the disability field, teams from both projects will describe how the partnerships have matured and what progress has been made towards sustainable collaborations.

As adults with disabilities live longer, parents are aging out of caregiver roles, budgets are being reduced and the strain on families and service systems is growing. Adult siblings are becoming the caregivers and/or advocates. What research is being done around adult siblings in the role of caregiver and advocate? What are the implications for the direction of family support services?

NSIP, in partnership with AUCD and the 67 UCEDDs continue to make significant strides in civic engagement and disability inclusion. UCEDDs are effective change agents, resulting in inclusive service and volunteerism policy and practice changes. Learn about the movement and be a part of it!